The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-07-30

4
good shaking up Of the sgus. He and som
other young fellows were induced to tr!
their skill in spearing fish. The river swarm
ed with innumerable varieties of the finn,
tribe. To catch them, canvas was procured
from the Indians, a considerable number O
which dusky race encamped about the towI
site of Lacon and the islands above, but
chiefly on the ground now occupied by thu
little village Of Sparland, opposite the former
named place. The proper mode was to fl
up light Of dry wood or Of hickory bark
just over the bow Of the canoe, which one o.
the fishermen guided and padded around in
the ponds and shallow waters among thu
islands. while the other (for the canoe would
usually accommodate but two persons, stand.
ing up, spear in hand, ready to strike on an
instant's notice, watched for the fish, which,
attracted or blinded by the light, often suf-
fered themselves to be impsled upon by the
deadly trident, without an effort to escape
until too late, or frightened by the glare Of
the light would often spring over or quite
into the boat. OF all the devices for navigs-l
ton canoe lie the most treaoherous to o.
green hand 1t seemingly wsuld prefer
to float bottom upward. A novice on his first
voyage in one, will need to sit very still and
keep his hands off the sides Of the vessel or
he will find himself suddenly sprawling in
the water. But if dangerous to an unexper.b
fenced passenger in his seat, what but q
certain "ducking' does it promise him whe
attempts for the first time to stand up, and
especially to try to spear fish! He is sure,
in the excitement Of the moment, to plunge
in head first after his spear, as if the nimbls
inhabitant of the water after being speared
at, must be caught and jerked out of the
water by the head or tail The first night
Mr.. A. and his companions saw millions Of
fish. They leaped out of the water ell
around the fishers, tloundered against the
boat and even sprang clear over it, but not
one was caught. The next night Mr.. A.
went out with Il single companion determin-
ed to get something, and he did, he caught
ducking and came near being food for the
fishes" Then came long and tedious siege
Of clever n ager' He was at Mr.. Hollen-
backs, where they gave him white walnut
pills and boneset tea and other cheerful de-
coctions, until he had well nigh shaken him
self to pieces, but finally the disease apparen-
tly satisfied that he was no longer worth its
attention, slowly let up. About this time he
made the acquaintance of q Mr.. Wallace, and
taught his two boys how to read and write.
He was then sent to Deer Park on horseback
with letter to Wallace's brother. While
there q few days, the ague took fresh hold
on him with greater violence than ever, but
after week it left him as suddenly as it
came on. He next rode to Fox river. There
was no Ottawa then, but Walker, Pettigrew,
and one or two others lived on the south
bluff. In the spring of 1880, Mr.. Armstrong
returned to his uncle at Round Prairie, and
then went to Walnut Grove, where he
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sugar camp and afterwards came near
accidentally killing or seriously wounding
couple of boys, sons of Mr.. Strayley. While
chopping down tree, and just as it had be-
gan to fall the boys appeared in the path,
running directly under it. He yelled at
them in horror, but they only looked at him
in dumb surprise. The tree came down by
Jerks, catching two or three times before
making its final plunge, during which time
the lads had barely left the path Even
after it fell, for moment he could not real
ize that the tree had missed them by few
inches; but a "miss is as good as mile"
His next mishap here was when driving a
spau of horses attached to a Sweep Mill,
grinding corn, the team became frightened
at the sudden lamentations of a pig which
had caught itself in q gate, ran away and
ground corn at most unheard of rate for
five minutes, until they made a wreck OF the
mill, before they could be stopped. Con-
Guiding that that locality was burdened with
too many exciting events for his comfort, he
returned to Lacon and invested in couple
of iuroges or small fat boats, which Mr..
Harris had brought from Michigan. These
he tied together and with them made
several successful trips to Hartzells trading
house at Hennepin, plying between Lacon
and that place, earring provisions and now
and then passenger. He remembers as
singular freak of the weather, probably pre-
paratory to its wonderful performance the
following winter, for it showed all day On
the Sd of May. That spring Mr.. Armstrong
broke llS acres of land between the Sd day
of May, commencing in snow storm ano
the Is of June, with two teams, besides max
ing two trips of two days each to Hartzelr
for provisions Considerable corn was plant
ed by him and others and good crop came
hut a freeze in October and the succeeding
big snow of the winter of lS3O-9l, covered
nm the fields so that little or no corn wa
gathered; and even hay stacked in the bot
, toms was covered with snow and all winter
nssturape, such as used to be certain ane